Oh, nothing was missing. In fact, Galaxy’s one of my absolute favourite games ever, and it feels fantastic.
I just personally feel 64 feels perfect, in ways that no other 3D platformer (let alone any 3D Mario) has matched. If I could try Galaxy with a regular controller, though, that might change things. (I know you can play it on Switch, but you still need to point at stuff, and it’s not ideal)